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Electrical Trades Union state secretary Dean Mighell this
afternoon defended the comments he made last year to a meeting of
union officials which have led to his resignation from the ALP.

Mr Mighell also told a press conference that the
incident would not affect the ETU's support of the Labor Party.

"It's not a matter of Dean Mighell versus Kevin Rudd. I
hope Kevin Rudd's the Prime Minister and nothing that he has said,
or that Julia Gillard has said today will change my mind about
that," he told reporters.

"The Labor party is not the union movement . . . we might live
in the same street but we don't share the same bed. We'll
have differences of opinion, that's not a bad thing."

Mr Mighell said that while he apologises for any offensive
language he used, he is standing by the substance of what he
said.

"Getting wage increases and doing my best by playing one
employer off against another . . . please don't tell me that's a
crime for a union official to do that,'' he said.

The union boss revealed that he was asked to resign by a senior
Labor Party official in a phone conversation around midday
today.

"I guess the disappointing thing is if Julia Gillard or Kevin
Rudd had have rung and said 'look Dean . . . the Howard
government's running this tape out. What are your thoughts on it?
Why did you say the things, what context do they sit in?',
I'd have a fair bit more respect for their position

"You shouldn't call a union official dumb for getting the best
deal they can for their members.''

He also said that while he still supported Kevin Rudd in his bid
to become Prime Minister, he was disappointed with his handling of
the incident, which has affected his trust in the Opposition
leader.

"Best if I'm in the jungle (with Kevin Rudd), I'm the one with
gun,'' he said.
Mr Mighell accused the federal government of leaking his
comments as a part of a political campaign against the unions.

"It's pretty clear that I'm being used as a political pawn by
the Howard government to antagonise the ALP and I don't to be used
in that scenario," he said.

"Earlier this morning I directed the national secretary of the
Australian Labor Party to obtain from Mr Mighell his resignation
from the Labor Party and that resignation was received by us a
short time ago.

"On top of that I have directed the national secretary of the
Labor Party to determine what, if any, campaign contribution has
been made by Mighell's union to the federal campaign of the Labor
Party and I have directed the national secretary to return any such
monies.''

Mr Rudd said he was drawing a line in the sand against thuggish
behaviour among trade unions.

Mr Mighel today admitted making the comments but said the
leaking of the tape was a desperate political stunt.

He denied acting inappropiately, but his comments threaten to
damage Labor, which the Howard government accuses of being too
close to the unions.

"In the past remarks like these may have been brushed away but I
won't let this continue into the future,'' Mr Rudd said.

Since the recording Mr Mighell has described the Prime Minister
John Howard "as a skidmark on the bedsheet of Australian
politics".

Opposition treasury spokesman Wayne Swan said
Mighel was the black sheep of the Labor Party and should wash
his mouth out with soap.

Mr Swan said the comments were repugnant and Mr Mighell's views
were not shared by the Labor Party.

"Dean Mighell should wash his mouth out with soap," Mr Swan told
reporters.

"Dean Mighell is not representative of unions and most certainly
not representative of the Australian Labor Party.

"His views are absolutely repugnant."

"Labor does not support pattern bargaining and we have made that
very clear.

"Every party has their black sheep. Dean Mighell is a black
sheep," Mr Swan said.

"Everyone has their black sheep. The Liberal Party has got
theirs, you see some of them out here (at parliamentary doorstops)
every day with Wilson Tuckey... Senator (Bill) Heffernan.

Earlier, Mighell said the leaking of the tape was a
political stunt by the federal government designed to drive a wedge
between the union and the Labor Party.

"Here we have a political stunt from the Howard government out
of Canberra,'' he told Sky News.

"We knew it was coming a week ago - it's designed to drive a
wedge between unions and the ALP and that's fine, we don't get
sucked into that.''

In the ETU meeting, Mr Mighell told members in an
expletive-riddled address that industry wide agreements had been
used to gain millions of dollars from employers which they did not
need to pay.

But today he denied his union was operating inappropriately.

"No one, no union in Australia, has done more to tackle
excessive working hours and secure decent wage increases for their
members - and that's been done within the law,'' Mr Mighell
said.

The ALP's National Secretary Tim Gartrell has also distanced
himself from Mighell.

6040http://media.fairfax.com.au/?rid=28535'I'm a political pawn'video/standardhttp://media.fairfax.com.au/?rid=28527Mighell's leaked tapeaudio/standardhttp://www.theage.com.au/news/business/union-hardliners-a-problem-for-rudd/2007/05/30/1180205336966.htmlUnion hardliners a problem for Ruddtext/html-documenthttp://www.theage.com.au/news/national/labor-moves-on-union-bullies/2007/05/30/1180205338460.htmlLabor moves on union 'bullies'text/html-documenthttp://www.theage.com.au/news/national/kevin-the-crusader-smites-another-foe/2007/05/30/1180205338514.htmlKevin the crusader smites another 'foe'text/html-documenthttp://www.theage.com.au/news/business/workers-are-the-winners-if-ir-gives-them-choice/2007/05/23/1179601487558.htmlWorkers are the winners if IR gives them choicetext/html-document